'NYPD Blue' WriterFaces a Year in PrisonFor Poodle Murder

6/17/2012 5:25 AM PDT BY TMZ STAFF

A former screenwriter for "NYPD Blue" was arrested for beating a poodle to death and could face up to a year in prison.

Ted Shuttleworth was busted Saturday morning in Queens, NY after punching his 4.5 lb poodle so hard in the face she died, according to the New York Post.

The 51-year-old TV writer took the canine to the vet afterwards -- but her death raised suspicions and sparked an investigation by the ASPCA.

Following the necropsy, a spokesman for the ASPCA concluded, "Lola sustained a traumatic brain injury secondary to the application of blunt force to the right side of her head at the hands of her owner."